Interaction with computing devices has changed significantly since the inception of the graphical user interface. Users may control a variety of functions and interact with numerous types of applications through a graphical user interface using one or more associated hardware input devices. For example, computing devices are often used for gaming and allow multiple users to play the same game at the same time. Various input devices include joysticks, touch-sensitive screens, keyboards, mice and the like. Users may open several different applications at the same time and multi-task by switching between applications and viewing multiple documents simultaneously. Input events are determined and rendered based on a currently focused application of the user interface and the type of user input. Thus, in one situation, the pressing of keys on a keyboard may correspond to entering text when a word processing application is active (i.e., has input focus).
However, current computing systems require a user to alter the focus of the user interface in order to enter input into a different application. Without changing the focus, user input is directed to and registered on the same application. Multiple users wishing to interact with different applications would need to take turns and switch between the two applications for their input to register correctly. Users wanting to use two applications simultaneously are unable to do so due to this limitation. As such, users wishing to share a computing device must typically agree on a single application with which to interact. Accordingly, the efficiency of using a single device is tremendously decreased.